Connection
by lilxyakusokuxX
Summary: [ Kurama x Botan ] She was the most popular girl in school...and now the new boy is about to steal her crown. AU, KuramaBotan.
1. Tokyo

I'm back, all thanks to **angkat14 **for giving me new insights on things. Does this mean I'll continue TSTF? I think my answer will be "yes." Think of this fic as my way to say sorry to all of you guys for this whole mess.

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Botan groan in exasperation, brushing her long bangs away from her eyes.

They were late…again.

Leaning against the Sakura tree, her idly glanced at her watch for the umpteenth time. Yep, 20 minutes late and counting. Muttering a few curses under her breath, her she started to fiddle around with the hem of her skirt, trying to past the time by as her eyes scanned through the groups of students entering Tokyo High School. _Where were they?_

Leaning against the Sakura tree, her idly glanced at her watch for the umpteenth time. Yep, 20 minutes late and counting. Muttering a few curses under her breath, her she started to fiddle around with the hem of her skirt, trying to past the time by as her eyes scanned through the groups of students entering Tokyo High School.

It was a big surprise to everybody that second-year student Sakuito Botan would hang out with friends that weren't only all boys, but were the 5 biggest trouble makers in the whole school. Why would the young and the talented want to hang out with the weirdos and freaks?

She bit her bottom lip anxiously as the first bell rang. First day back and not one, but all five overslept.

She glanced at her watch. 29 minutes, 17 seconds. Where. Were. They?

"Ohayou, Botan-san!"

Finally!

A grim expression gazed her face as the group of boys made they're way to her. They didn't seem to enthusiastic either.

Kitojima Jin, second year student, was the first one to each her, smiling his usual, goofy grin. "Good morning, Botan-san," he greeted politely. "You haven't been waiting for long, have you?"

She glared wildly at him. "Yes."

"Touchy, touchy…"

She glance up at the other four. Kuronue, Touya, Shishiwakamaru, and Yomi all lazily stared back at her, as though they'd just gotten out of bed 2 minutes ago.

"One day…this one day I ask you guys ONE favor, and that was to actual be on time for school for once in your lives but you all can't even do that, can you?" she hissed frustrated at them all. "No!"

Kuronue shrugged his shoulders lightly. "Okay, Botan-chan, sheesh…" muttering tiredly. "I hate it when you ask a question and then answer it yourself…" He glanced up at the school as the second bell suddenly rang, signaling student the start of school. "Shouldn't we all check the list to see which room we all got?"

Botan gave him a disapproving look. "Kuronue-kun, Yomi-kun, Touya-kun and I are all in Room 312, Class A. Shishi-kun and Jin-kun are in Class B."

"Hn…we got Takinaka…" Touya sighed, rubbing his right eyes with his hand. "Can't we just ditch school for today?"

Everyone winced as fire shot out of Botan's eyes. "NO!"

"Botan-chan, we are all in the same class again!"

Smiling lightly, she nodded at the three boys in front of her. "Hai. How fortunate."

The first one smiled. "Fortunate? Maybe it's destin--"

"Botan-chan!"

She held her breath as 6 more boys approached her.

"It's so good to see you again, Botan-chan! I saw the list, I'm in Class A like you! Isn't that great?"

She started to panic as everyone started talking at once, pestering her with questions and comments. Holding her breath, she sweat-dropped as a dark cloud hover over her head. "Yes, it's nice to see you all too, but I better to going now. Class and all are about to begin and I must get my books…"

Slowly, she inched away. "I hope to see all you guys again."

As she scurried away, she couldn't help but hear the exciting voices of the group.

"I think she likes me!"

"No way, man. She's like me!"

"Well, I'm gonna ask her out first!"

"No way man!"

She hurriedly made her way to her locker, just to see Touya trying to get his opened. Stopping to breathe her breath, she looked at him tiredly.

Touya sneered, reading her face. "Say the word and we'll beat them all up for you."

Sighing as she dialed in her combination, she shook her head. "I'm sure it will end soon. Hopefully, they will all find a new target to worship all year."

"Hn…you've been saying that since the 3rd grade."

A frown graced her lips at the comment and darkened more as she opened her locker and about 12 love notes came tumbling out. She raised an eyebrow at him. "First day and already it's happening! How on earth did they found out my locker number?"

He was about to make a smart remark when a young girl ran up to the two, giggling. She had short, red and green eyes with a few freckles on her cheeks. Botan frowned instantly turned to a big smile as she waved excitedly to the girl.

"Hinageshi-chan! Ohayou!"

The young girl, Hinageshi, first year student, stopped in front of Botan and begin to bob up and down on her heels excitedly. "Touya-san, Botan-nee-chan, it's so good to see you again!" Her eyes sparkled with mischief. "Ano, did you hear? We have a new student in school!"

Touya blinked. "So? We already have a whole bunch of you stinking freshmen roaming the hallways."

Hingeshi's face turned red with indignant. She stuck out her tongue at him. "I wasn't talking to you, baka! I was talking to Botan-nee-chan!" Quickly, she turned to her role model. "He's different than us! Rumors say that he's from Japan!"

"Japanese, ne?" Botan bit her lips thoughtfully. "That would be a nice change…"

Her mussing her stopped by Touya's scoff. "Please, by the end of the day, he'll be a new member of the Sakuito Botan Fan Club."

"He will not!"

"Will, too!"

"Will not!"

"Will, too!"

Electricity shot out through both of their eyes as Hinageshi sweat-dropped. "Ano, Botan-nee-chan, I think he might be right. I mean, you are the most popular girl in school."

"I am not!" she yelped indignantly. "I never wanted to be! Is it so wrong to go to school and study hard? I don't want their attention! I just want to be normal."

"Demo, you are not normal. You are the vice president of the student body, in the top THREE in your class, you work hard, care for others, you're nice, kind, polite, helpful, pretty…who wouldn't like you?"

Botan blushed, shaking her head. "You're giving me way too much credit! I mean--"

She was cut off when the bell suddenly rang. Sighing, she bided her younger friend a goodbye as she and Touya made their way to class.

"Touya-kun, you don't think I'm popular, ne?"

"Hn."

"Good luck in Tokyo!"

"We'll miss you!!"

"Take care of herself!!"

"Hai. Tokyo people are weird…"

A young red-head sighed as his eyes scanned through the endless hallways of his new school, recalling the words of his old friends. It has only been 2 weeks since he'd moved here to this new region and already he missed them and his mother terribly. Shaking out a nagging feeling in his stomach, he took another glance at his schedule in in hands as his deep, emerald eyes scanned through it quickly.

"Room 312...Room 312..." he muttered annoyingly. He should've brought a map with him. Or better yet, a tracking device. 'These schools here are way too big for their own good…'

His spirits sunk as the final bell rang for class to begin.

He looked up to find a random room number posted on a door nearby, labeled "Room 300" His shoulders sagged as the door next to it read 'Room 356.'

'Yep, this school is weird. Can't even count…'

"Room 312...room 312..."

"It down the hallway, take a right and it should be on your left," a deeper voice interfered. Slowly, the redhead turned towards the sound, smiling apologetically at a old man in his 40s.

"Arigatou. Gomen ne, sensei-san demo I'm a new student here and I am having a little trouble getting around this school."

"Hai. The way this school marks their room are annoying stupid."

The young boy was about to replied when the man started walking down the hallway, passing him. "Anyways, I'm Mr. Kitojama. I'll accompany you to your next class." A sight pause as the young boy followed the teacher silently. "You're a new student here, ne?"

"Hai, Kitojama-sensei."

"From where?"

"Japan, sir."

Kitojama rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a second as he made a turn to the right. "…I believe that Miss. Sakuito is in your class. Very respected student here at our school. I'll see if she can show you around campus until you are settled here, um…"

The young boy's eyes sparkled. "Minamino, sir. Minamino Shuuichi."

The man nodded, as though in approval as he stopped at a door.

Room 312.

"Well, here we are, Minamino-san," he grinned as he reached out for the doorknob. "You stay here while I have a talk with your teacher, explaining your status."

He took a sneak peek as the door opened to see a class all sitting at their desk, chatting idly as Kitojama spoke with a young man in his early 30s. His eyes scanned curiously through the room, viewing his classmates. His brows were raised as not noticed one student had a very unusual shade of…well, blue. He couldn't see her face, though as her back was turned to him. As his attention shifted back to his teachers, the younger one had nodded as Kitojama seemed to be motioning to the door.

The younger teacher clapped his hands to get the class' attention. They all quiet down immediately.

"Class, we have a new student joining us today from Japan."

Was the his cue to go in? From the corner of his eyes, he noticed that Kitojama had motioned the blue-haired girl to the corner to speak in private. It was then he noticed her amazing amethyst eyes.

They're so purple…

"Everyone, please welcome Minamino Shuuichi."

Slowly he walked in with a solemn expression as the class gawked at him - mainly, the girls. _No surprise_. "Ohayou, minna-sans. I'm Shuuichi and I'm honored to be here in your class." His voice was smooth and silky, making many for the female students sigh romantically, blushing like mad. Guess his reputation with the ladies still stands, even in Tokyo, he though musingly, at the same time, perturbed.

Kitojama cleared his throat. "Well, anyways Shuuichi," he added, motioning to the blue-haired girl at his side. It was then he was able to get a good look at her: she was very pretty, he admitted. Different from most girls from Japan, especially with her blue hair. Tall, slender, strong-head. Plus, she wasn't gawking at him lovingly or blushing like a tomato, which was sort off perturbing. Suddenly, she bowed slightly towards him as Kitojama continued as statement. "This is Sakuito Botan. She'll be your personal student guide for now."

He chuckled inwardly as he felt the whole male population glare at him.

Yep, Tokyo is **weird**.

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Like it? Hate it? Review it, please. As always, flames are accepted if tehy have a reason behind it.

**PREVIEW NEXT CHAPTER:**

"Are the plans still up for tomorrow night, Botan-chan?"

Looking up from her Chemistry book, her amethyst eyes sparkled happily. "Hai, of course."

Yomi chuckled as Kuronue tossed his pendant into the air and caught it in the palm of his hand. Meanwhile, Jin, Touya and Shishiwakamaru were all polishing their swords and daggers. Smirking at his work, Touya lifted the hilt of the small knife between his fingers. Smirking when he noticed that Botan's back was towards him, he lashed it out towards her neck.

--and in a slit second she caught the steel in between her bare fingers.

"Nice try, Touya," she muttered, still reading her book as she placed the small knife down on the bed besides her. "But you got to do better than that."

Shishiwakamaru burst out laughing, placing his sword aside. "Tomorrow, Reikai won't know want hit them."

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Visit me at: www. free webs . com /yakusokukuramabotan (delete spaces)


	2. My Obsession

**disclaimer**: I don't own anything!

* * *

Deep, green eyes roamed randomly through the classroom. 

So this is Tokyo, huh? So far, he'd seen nothing new or unusual apart from here and Hokkaido…

Except that this school is way too big, they can't count and that they need to get some flowers on the school premises. So far, he'd only saw one flower - and it was a fake, plastic one.

Sighing, he gazed down at his schedule for the day, knowing that there were a group of girls in the far corner looking and staring at him.

After this class he goes to a health service class, than English, followed by Japanese literacy, lunch, science, history, P.E, and math.

Some schedule.

There must be something about this school that's special. Why else would he left Hokkaido just for…well, this!

_Well_, his mind though idly, _there is her._

His mind wanted him to turn around and take a look at her but his body said otherwise. But from where he sat, which was directly in front of her, he was still able to hear the conversation she was having with three other boys. _Aren't we the popular one, ne?_

"What?" the black haired one chuckled humorously. "Love notes in your locker already?"

Botan seemed to had smack him in the head. "Oh, shut up, Kuronue." she replied indignantly. "You know that I _don't_ go that way!"

"Yeah, but THEY don't know that obliviously…"

Yomi nodded, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder lightly. "We're here for you, B. Just say the word - we'll handle everything."

"Oh, no, not _you_," Touya countered, quickly swiping Yomi's hand off of Botan's shoulder nonchalantly. Yomi frowned but remained quiet. "Remember what happened in 7th grade? Thanks to you, the three us got suspended for 2 weeks. Leave it to you to bring a homemade bomb to school."

"For the last time it **wasn't** my fault!" Yomi hissed, looking away at Touya indignantly. He folded his arms over his chest, rolling his eyes. "That guy, **Hiro**, was looking at B with that sick look in his eyes. I'm a man - I _know_ that look!"

"Too much information!" Botan sighed tiredly. "Why can't the two of you behave yourselves like Jin-kun, Shishi-kun and Kuronue-kun?"

Kuronue's dark, purple eyes sparkled lovingly as spontaneously reached over and hugged Botan like a little child. "Oh, B! You're so kind!"

"Okay, okay, she's kind," Yomi hissed again, turning to eye evilly at the mischievous, black haired boy, "now you let her go, baka."

Kuronue pouted but nevertheless released his hold on her, muttering something that surprisingly followed the lines of "spoiled-sport."

Botan groaned. "I need to get more female friends."

"Why?" Kuronue chirped happily. "the 6 musketeers are fine the way we are. Hell, we are strong enough to outsmart that stupid prince of the freaking dea--"

"Kuronue! Watch you mouth!"

"Oops. Sorry, Touya-kun!"

A short pause.

Botan cleared her throat. "It's not nice to eavesdrop like this, Minamino-san."

Unexpectedly at her statement, he turned around quickly, waving his hands in front of him, slightly irked. "Iie, no, I'm not, really. I was just viewing my schedule is all and I--"

She smiled. "It's okay, really."

He sighed as he flashed her a smile. "Arigatou…Botan-san, ne?"

She nodded happily. "Aa! And this --" she motioned to a boy with cool, green hair, "is Touya. The one with the long black hair is Kuronue and the one sitting next to him is Yomi."

He smiled all at them politely. "Nice to meet you all."

The three boys all nodded back at him. Kuronue stared back at him interestedly. "So you are a student from Hokkai-"

"Sakuito Botan, is that **you**!" a deep, masculine voice interfered out of nowhere. All 5 students all looked up to become face-to-face with yet another boy. He was tall, with long, black hair, almost as long as Kuronue or maybe even longer that nearly reached the end of his back. His skin was pale and his body was thin, giving him a mysterious, chilling look.

Botan smiled unevenly, nodding slowly. "Hai. Its nice to see you Karasu-san. How have you been doing?"

"Good, good," came the solemn reply as he gazed around the group of boys that were surrounding the girl. Touya was eyeing him warily, along with Kuronue. Yomi gazed back mutually at him. Of course, he knew all of them; they all attended the same junior high together though they were just merely acquaintances. Botan has been his friend, however, for the past 2 years after he's transfer to Tokyo from American.

His eyes rolled over the new face. Nonchalantly, he pointed at Shuuichi. "Who's this, Bot-chan? Your new boyfriend?"

Shuuichi was about to oppose when he heard Botan's voice, which was surprisingly calm and smooth.

"Iie, Karsau-san. This is Minamino Shuuichi, he just transfer here from Hokkaido. Shuuichi, this is Manatsu Karasu. He's from American who transfer here a few years ago."

Shuuichi gazed at him, nodded politely. "Nice to meet you."

"I like your hair."

He looked slightly taken back. "Pardon?"

"Your hair," Karasu repeated. "I like it."

"Oh…thank you."

Kuronue reached over and tapped the new boy on his back. The nervous red hair looked back as Kuronue leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Don't mind Karasu, he has some kind of a hair-fetish thing going on. I think that's one of the reasons why he's so attracted to B in the first place. Don't take it personally, he's not gay…at least none of us think so. Never been proven."

Shuuichi turned back to look at Karasu where he saw that him and Botan were chatting idly.

"You have been taking care of yourself, ne? And look at yourself! You're so thin now. You haven't been on a crash diet or something stupid, ne?"

"Of course, Botan-chan. Don't worry about it. I am eligible to take care of myself."

"I see," Botan replied. "How's Moki-neko? Haven't see him in a while, that silly cat."

"Fine, fine, but I think that he missed your presence. He keeps on looking at your picture in my bedroom, the poor thing."

"You have a picture of Botan in your room?" Yomi and Touya chided in unison. Karasu smiled brightly.

"So what if I do? There's no rule about me not being able to. And besides, Moki-neko will be out to pounce me if I ever remove it." He turned back to Botan. "Really, you should see the poor thing."

Botan giggled. "Maybe I'll come visit one day."

(A/N - in case you don't know, "neko" means "cat," so basically Moki-neko is a cat name "Moki.")

Smirking, the crow-resembling boy leaned down against her ear. "And I'll be waiting," he whispered, giving her a light peck on the cheek.

"Hey, don't touch her!" Touya hissed, throwing a book at him. Expertly, Karasu dodged, waving goodbye to Botan as he inched away. Angry, stretch marks appeared on Touya's, Kuronue, and Yomi's head.

Shuuichi covered his mouth in attempt to stop him from laughing. "Let me guess," he started to Yomi, "he's not your best friend?"

Yomi sighed. "Nope…oh, yeah! Minamino-san, I know that thisis none of my business and that your name should be self-explanatory but I need to make sure…"

"Yes?"

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

* * *

Karasu smirked back as his eyes grazed over the group of five students in the back, chatting randomly to each other. His eyes fell upon the one called "Shuuichi." 

He grin lecherously.

'That boy…has such a delicious aura…' He though absentmindedly. '_And he has such beautiful hair to boot! …perfect…! Maybe I'll have a little…talk with him after school?'_

He though absentmindedly. ' 

Reaching back into his back pocket, he pulled out a small package, about the size of a apple that was wrapped in a linen clothe. '_No…I want to talk to him **now**.'_

The pale boy gently threw the package into the floor and watched as it released various smoke. Smirking, he inched away from the scene as another student cried out:

"Fire!"

As every student started to run out of the classroom, Karasu stayed hidden in the corner, waiting for his prey. '_One…two…three…four…' _Right before he was able to run out of the room, he grabbed his arm, his long fingers creasing the sleeve of it's uniform.

"Excuse me, Shuuichi-kun, may I have a word with you?"

* * *

"My, my, aren't we lucky that they'd decided to cancel school, don't you know?" Jin smiled widely as six teens entered a sparsely decorated, bared, empty apartment. The apartment was very small, that consist of three rooms: a bedroom, a bathroom and a overall larger room that made up the living room, kitchen, dinning room, etc with two small windows. The floors had no carpet, there were hardly any furniture or pictures on the wall. Your basic empty box. 

"My, My, Botan-chan, you keep a very…clean room."

The young girl sighed as she entered her room, setting her bag in a corner and sat on the small makeshift that made up her bed. "Nah, just don't own many things is more like it." She reached over and grabbed an extra chemical book on the floor that she'd…required last year. Or stole, whichever way you look at it.

Her room was actually very interesting. Though all she had was a matrix that made up her bed and a small desk. Little stolen trinkets were everywhere, random jewelry and the occasional sword or dagger placed randomly on the floor with a few chest and gold pieces around in the corner or tucked away under her bed.

Like I said, her room was very interesting.

Shishiwakamaru, Jin, Kuronue, Touya and Yomi all slaughtered in, taking random places on the floor, except for Jin who took the book next to the bluette. The jolly red-haired smiled, reaching into his pocket, retrieving a strait-blade dagger.

"Are the plans still up for next week, Botan-chan?"

Looking up from her Chemistry book, her amethyst eyes sparkled happily. "Hai, of course."

Yomi chuckled as Kuronue tossed his pendant necklace into the air and caught it with the tips of his fingers. Meanwhile, Touya and Shishiwakamaru were all polishing various swords and staffs that they'd gotten from the floor.

Smirking at his work, Touya lifted the hilt of a small knife between his fingers. Smirking when he noticed that Botan's back was towards him, he lashed it out towards her neck -

and in a slit second she caught the steel in between her bare fingers.

"Nice try, Touya," she muttered, still reading her book as she placed the small knife down on the bed besides her. "But you got to do better than that."

Shishiwakamaru burst out laughing, placing his sword aside. "Next week, Reikai won't know want hit them!"

Botan's forehead knitted a bit in thought. "What about those new detectives rumors that's going around? Don't we have to prepare for them? Heard that they're tough this time…oi, how troublesome…"

Jin shook his head, grinning jolly-fully as he placed a hand on her back, leaning over to see what she was reading. "Rumors are rumors, the truths are the truths. If there really are some great spirit team working for that brat Koenma, he'll have to deal with the 6 of us."

Botan nodded. "But remember our true purpose for this guys," she murmured softly. Everyone nodded. "We can't forget our true purpose. After all…" Suddenly, she smiled, winking. "revenge is everything…"

Yomi scoff as he removed a rather large gold piece that was wedge in his sides and tossed it aside. "Damn…you would think that you would buy another apartment with all the stolen loot you have…this place is pitiful."

"I was wondering about that, too, B…" Touya sighed. "Maybe it's time you left this place and get a new house. You have thousands of gold and jewels to pay it off. Speaking of which…where the heck do you freaking put it all!"

She winked. "My secret. And besides, I like living here."

Touya sighed. "Suit yourself, but of it was up to me, I wouldn't want to live in a house where my whole family was slaughtered in…" he muttered back as he got up. "I have to run a few errands now. I'll be back tonight then to check up on you."

Before he left, he turned to her and bowed gracefully. "I bid an adieu, madam phantom thief, until we meet again."

Botan laughed. "Very funny - but who knows…" her eyes twinkled mischievously. ""…maybe I'm even better than the legendary demon thief - Youko Kurama…"

Jin chuckled, wrapping an arm around her and pressing his cheek to hers'.

"Come _on_, Bot-chan. Youko Kurama is just a legend. There's no way that a mere myth can match up to you. You probably **are** the best phantom thief in Ningenkai! Hell, you're probably the _only_ phantom thief in Ningenkai!"

Botan laughed. "Yeah, sure…"

* * *

Arg...yes, I know, that was a **pointless** chapter but i **PROMISE **the next chapter will have more drama, romance, action and will be much more...interesting. Actually, looking back on this, I wondered what possessed me to put Karasu-kun in here...:shrugs: oh well! 

**Next chapter**: In gym class, Botan manages to _a__ccidentally_ knock Shuuichi-kun unconscious! Now what happens when the female student body is breathing fire downher back?And why is Karasu acting so...friendly?

Review please!


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